Concert Diaries : Kodaline live in Manila 2019

It's been 3 days since I watched Kodaline live at the New Frontier Theatre and I'm still suffering from #PostConcertDepression at it's very finest! The concert blues just won't go away! I came back to work Thursday night and It's been such a struggle attending meetings and stopping myself from talking about Kodaline. 😫

Met them for the first time last year when they joined Wanderland.Been waiting since 2012 so i remember being extremely thrilled that they are the main act! I guess it's safe to say that Josh, Mike and myself are the first 3 fans they met here in the PH! I still remember it like it just happened yesterday... They arrived at the hotel from the airport , Joshey approached them but when asked for a photo, the only response we received was "Later".  In my years of fangirling experience, When an artist says "Later"...They usually mean "Never'. I remember how disappointed we were that we decided to bill out BUT just before the hotel staff  could hand us the bill, We saw Jay approaching us followed by Stevey and the rest is history. MORAL OF THE STORY: Don't be so quick to judge! Honestly, that night and the night I saw them perform live the first time,turned out to be two of the best nights of my 2018!!! I remember Joshey and I were crying when they played "Brother". Gosh,,Good times!

After Wanderland, I suffered from a major #sepanx and it didn't help at all that my office is literally 5 minutes away from the hotel they stayed at, I would get sad everytime our shuttle would pass by their hotel cos I can't help but miss the guys so freaking much! Fast forward to months later, I received the greatest news that they're coming back for a solo show and my heart couldn't be happier! FINALLY A SOLO SHOW!!!! I will hear my fave songs played live again! *insert 10,000 hearts*

I wish the photog told me were too far apart lol

It was in the morning of Feb 26th when me and my forever concert buddies, Josh and Ate My decided to pay my fave boys a visit! We drove almost 3 hours all the way to Manila to try our luck! When we got there, My friends thought it would be a great idea to let my fave human Jay, know that we're there so I sent him a message only for him to reply real time and come right down to see us in the lobby. I had to calm myself down before security throws me out because Jay is my favorite bassist in the freaking world. And okay, fine.. I have the biggest crush on him too!! I mean, who doesn't!?? He has the kindest pair of eyes I've ever seen. For reaaaals ..Okie... I better stop before I creep Jay out. Just in case he comes across this blog. AS IF. Idk..A girl can dream lols Kidding aside though, It's the best feeling in the world to know that your favorite band know of your existence! *sigh* I love Kodaline always and forever!

Sharing snappies :D

Jay asked How the year's been and me and my friends had a little chat with him  =)

I love this photo so much =)

His smile tho

kind kind eyes

So he spent prolly about 15 minutes talking to us about stuff , taking selfies and melting my heart in the process :P haha ( I SAID IM GUNNA STOP BUT I KENNAT HELP IT haha #sorrynotsorry )
He bid goodbye cos he's about to leave to explore the venue so away, we went too.

We didn't meet the rest of the boys but honestly, what Jay did for us is more than a fan like me could ever ask for! I wanted to meet the other boys so bad but we wanted to arrive early at the venue to get the closest spot.. I wanted to be by the barricade so bad!

We were prolly at the venue before 1 pm, we started lining up and the queue didn't move until about 5:30. I was waiting to get inside the venue when an angel came by to hand me the most precious gift and honest to goodness, I already resigned myself to the fact that I will meet the rest of the boys till this happened! Legit tears were filling my eyes because I was so touched by this unexpected wonderful gesture. Because of this lil surprise, I got to meet them,talk to them for a bit, hug them all and I even had a picture with all of them! My favorite would be having seen Jay's reaction when I walked into the meet and greet!  He seemed happy and surprised to see me there huhu...It's so great to love a band like this and know for sure that they know you exists! Let me just mention that I actually joined their contest but didn't win which made this experience even more magical! I also told the 3 boys that my name is Irish and Mark was like "Wait, your name is Irish?'' so I said "Yup! I told you that last year"...They laughed prolly because i said that super high pitch! lol

After the photo op, I stepped out of the meet and greet only to find out that I have another pleasant surprise! I was part of the first 20 to get inside the venue so i had the amazing opportunity to pick out a spot "naturally" right in front of Jay by the barricade! WISH GRANTED!!! He actually recognized me and waved sometime when they were doing "Follow Your Fire"..He might have also noticed my hair being pulled because my friends could not contain the excitement witnessing that haha I prolly blushed a little..no that's a lie..I'm sure it wasn't little. I was prolly cherry red haha

It was the most amazing night, They sang 16 songs and I was just singing, dancing, crying, screaming simultaneously throughout the show! I cannot move on! I've been re-watching the videos i took that night and crying like a baby hence this post. I needed to let it out somehow!

Anyway Here's the setlist. 

• Follow Your Fire
• Brand New Day
• Ready
• Brother
• Shed A Tear
• Head Held High
• The One
• Angel
• I wouldn't be
• Love Like This
• One Day
• Hell Froze Over
• Raging
• Love Will Set You Free

Encore: 

• All I want
• High Hopes

Me with Stevey after the show =)

So there ya go...Thank you for reading! Let me know in the comments if u went to watch them too! It would be nice to know the rest of you Kodaline fam =) 

Find me on IG @ishilubrico
Kodaline Videos from my Youtube channel

Taichung Theatre and Day 3: Jiufen, Yehliu, and Shifen Day Tour

I super enjoyed Day 3 of our Taiwan trip because i was able to cross 3 items off my bucket list. For one, I got to see the famous Queen's head rock formation at Yehliu geopark, 2nd i flew lanterns at Ping Xi and lastly, i got to see the Amei' tea house which is said to be the inspiration behind "Spirited Away"! 

We were able to save a few hundreds by purchasing the Jiufen,Yehliu and Shifen day tour via KK day for only PHP1174.00 per person! Super cheap kasi i heard that if you take a bus from Taipei going to one of these places, It will costs about 1200 NTD per way! Klook had a similar package at almost the same price but we decided to go with KK day because their pick up point is just a 5-minute walk from our hotel. If i remember it right, Klook's pick up point is at Xi men which will require us to take an MTR. 

They gathered all of us inside Taipei's Main Station right in front of 7 Eleven where we were assigned one tour guide per bus! Before I even continue this post, I just wanna give you guys an important reminder to ensure that if you're going as a group, It is important to not allow just one person to take a photo of your guide's contact details! Seryoso guys, In our experience, Ysa took the photo but her battery died so nung naligaw kame, Katakot takot na critical thinking ang ginawa namen para makauwi! Kwento later :P 

After we have been grouped accordingly, we all walked together to the KKday bus which was the cutest thing ever! The buses were fairly new with really cute designs and they provided us free bottled water.It was quite a long trip because the places were on the mountain side hence we left Taipei at 8:45 in the morning. I think the entire day trip took at least 10 hours. I remember we got back to Taipei a lil past 6 in the evening.

First stop was at Yehliu Geo Park.The day tour package we bought is not inclusive of the attraction pass so we bought our own admission tickets from Klook for PHP136 each. Since day tour lang naman yung babayaran mo from KK day, you can choose to either buy the passes there or u can purchase it separately from Klook!  At Yehliu Geopark, You'll get to see the ever famous Queen's head along with other cool rock formations! You will also love the amazing view of the ocean so make sure you wear a pang malakasang Korean drama OOTD although soft reminder lang not to wear heels because there are steep and slippery areas and I'm sure you don't wanna enjoy the rest of the tour on a wheelchair :P 

Here are photos from Yehliu Geo Park!

After Yehliu, they took us to our second destination which is  Shifen Old Street! People from all over the world would visit this place to take part in the old age tradition of writing your wishes down on a lantern and flying it to make your wishes come true. Our KKday guide Sophie took us to a store so we can get a discounted rate for the lanterns. Instead of paying 200 NTD ,i ended up paying only
190 NTD. There are different colors and each color represents different things. I picked out orange cos it signifies "Love". Super cool nung vendor guys,they would instruct you how to fly your lantern, they would offer to take your photos and they would even instruct you how and where to pose! Overall, it was such a fun activity and it's truly magical watching the lanterns up in the sky! BTW  Shifen is also famous for it's chicken wings and we bought the yummiest squid balls I've ever eaten right here! Sharing photos below :)

Love :)

Our next stop before proceeding to Jiufen is Taiwan's Little Niagara...Shifen falls!It's actually pretty small but it's super stunning! May i just share na ang gwapo nung nagbebenta ng chicharon don haha..Actually ang dami talagang gwapo sa Taiwan guys.Im not sure if being colonized by Japan for 50 years played a part pero my gaaad, lahat ng klase ng tanawin sa Taiwan..PAAAAK! haha Anyway  photos i took of the falls using my iphone :)

The last stop of our KKday tour is the inspiration behind the anime "Spirited Away". I have read reviews from people not liking it here because of the overpopulated narrow streets and overpriced stuff being sold at shops but I actually enjoyed it! Walking into it's old streets felt like going into an actual film set. Jiufen has this old street charm that  feels so surreal, it's almost magical.

So ayun na nga, our guide gave us an hour and 30 minutes to explore Shifen. She provided instructions as to where the meet up point is and we thought we heard her say na we're supposed to meet up at 7 Eleven ng 4 pm. Guys, Mej kailangan makinig maige sa tourguide since hindi English ang first language nila , mej challenging intindihin ung accent so please learn from our mistake, and pay full attention to your guide when they're giving instructions!

We were  at 7 11 na fifteen minutes before 4 pm pa lang  pero nagtataka kame kasi parang wala kameng nakikitang familiar faces.We thought we were just early until ayun na nga 4 pm na , wala pa rin kame makita na ka tour namen! I remember Sophie said if we're not at the meeting place by 4, the KKday bus will leave and we will have to commute back to Taipei on our own. At this point,  natataranta na kame kc lowbatt na c Ysa and nasa kanya yung contact number ni Sophie tapos wala na kaming powerbank and nasa 500 na lang NTD namen kc di pa kame nakakapagpapalit ulit bukod sa ang lala namen mag foodtrip :P

Yun nga pala, Guys please please ensure that you have enough NTDs kasi walang money changer dun Long story short, nagpaikot ikot kame hanggang sa makakita kame ng mga taong may KKday sticker tapos we asked for their guide's phone number. I was so worried na magkaroon na naman ng communication barrier so i contacted our tourguide from Taichung, Jane and nakiusap ako for her to call the other KKday guide, Karen to ensure na malinaw ang usapan. Long story short, umalis na ung bus namen pero dahil meron pang bakanteng upuan sa bus nila Karen, she had us stay there kaya nakauwi kame sa Taipei pero omg, grabe the stress! Kala namen maglalakad kame from the countryside to Taipei. Haha and Jusko, parking pala dapat ang meeting point which is a bus away from Jiufen Old street! Kalurky! Please do not be shunga like us ah? Haha Nakaka trauma ung thought na kala mo one week kang maglalakad bago maka uwi haha

Anyway, before I end this day 3 blog, I just wanna tell you guys quickly about a side trip that our hero of a Taichung tour-guide Jane who saved us from the Jiufen mishap arranged for us for free after seeing Rainbow Village! It was right at the center of Taichung's business district and it was designed by Japanese architect Toyo Ito.The building took 10 years to build because of the vision that Toyo Ito had of his structures. He wants his buildings to be like a whirlpool hence he created a theater composed almost completely of curved walls and no poles! It is an astonishing piece of architecture and a must-see if you have great appreciation for modern art!  It is also free of charge to visit and the area where it stand is surrounded by beautiful skyline views so give it a go if you have time to spare when visiting Taichung!

External facade of Taichung Theatre

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